LIBERIA: Hunting for Liberia’s Missing Millionsby Doreen Carvjal, New York TimesMay 30th, 2010How much money did Charles G. Taylor, the deposed president of Liberia, siphon out of his war-shattered country, and where is it? Investigators are developing a new strategy involving filing civil damage claims against companies, governments and international banks that they contend aided Mr. Taylor in illegal transactions.

US: Oil Hits Home, Spreading Arc of Frustrationby Campbell Robertson, Clifford Krauss and John M. Broder, New York Times May 24th, 2010More than a month has passed since the Deepwater Horizon rig blew up, spewing oil into the Gulf of Mexico and frustrating all efforts to contain it. The disaster underscores the enduring laxity of federal regulation of offshore operations and has shown the government to be almost wholly at the mercy of BP and of Transocean, the company leasing the rig.

UK/CANADA: Tar sands crude is reaching British petrol stations, Greenpeace saysby Terry Macalister, The Guardian (UK)May 9th, 2010While City investors have begun to question the role of companies such as BP and Shell in the tar sands business, a new report by Greenpeace claims British motorists are unwitting users of diesel and petrol derived from the tar sands of Alberta, Canada. The carbon-heavy production methods involved make tar sands extraction particularly damaging to the environment.

US: BP Is Criticized Over Oil Spill, but U.S. Missed Chances to Actby Campbell Robertson and Eric Lipton, New York TimesApril 30th, 2010The Obama administration began Friday to publicly chastise BP America for its handling of the spreading oil gusher in the Gulf of Mexico. Officials initially seemed to underestimate the threat of a leak, just as BP did last year when it told the government such an event was highly unlikely.

US: Oil Spill’s Blow to BP’s Image May Eclipse Costsby Clifford Krauss , New York TimesApril 29th, 2010BP says that the offshore drilling accident that is spewing thousands of barrels of oil a day into the Gulf of Mexico could cost the company several hundred million dollars. Nobody really knows whether the oil giant is being too conservative about the cost for the April 20 accident, which some experts say could end up as the biggest oil spill in history.

CANADA: Munk takes on mine protesters, defends capitalismby John Spears, The StarApril 28th, 2010Mark Ekepa journeyed from Papua New Guinea to tell the shareholders of Barrick Gold Corp. how police had burned down his house near the Barrick’s Porgera mine. Idolia Bornones travelled from Chile to say that Barrick operations are damaging local glaciers and rivers. But Barrick chairman Peter Munk was unrepentant as he faced the company’s annual meeting.

WORLD: Banks Making Big Profits From Tiny Loansby NEIL MacFARQUHAR, New York Times April 13th, 2010In recent years, the idea of giving small loans to poor people became the darling of the development world, hailed as the long elusive formula to propel even the most destitute into better lives. But drawn by the prospect of hefty profits from even the smallest of loans, a raft of banks and financial institutions now dominate the field, with some charging interest rates of 100 percent or more.

US/IRAQ: U.S. Companies Join Race on Iraqi Oil Bonanzaby TIMOTHY WILLIAMS, New York Times January 13th, 2010American companies have been arriving in Iraq to pursue an expected multibillion-dollar bonanza of projects to revive the country’s petroleum industry. But there are questions about the Iraqi government’s capacity to police the companies. “These are for-profit concerns and they are trying to make as much money as they can,” said Pratap Chatterjee of CorpWatch.

US/CHINA: U.S. Holds Fire in Google-China Feudby JAY SOLOMON, IAN JOHNSONAnd JASON DEAN, Wall Street Journal January 12th, 2010U.S. government officials and business leaders were supportive but wary of taking sides in Google Inc.'s battle with China, a sign of the delicate tensions between the growing superpower and the West. Google has threatened to bolt from China over censorship and alleged cyber spying.

NIGERIA: Ex-militant leader heads SPDC’s patrol teamby Chris Ejim, Nigerian CompassJanuary 8th, 2010Authorities of Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) have unveiled a new security strategy for securing oil pipelines and platforms within the Niger Delta region. Shell has appointed former MEND militant commander, Eris Paul, and his company, Eristex Pipeline Patrol, to secure oil facilities in the Southern Ijaw area of the Delta.

GHANA: Corruption probe into sale of Ghana oil blockby William Wallis, Martin Arnold and Brooke Masters, Financial TimesJanuary 7th, 2010US and Ghanaian authorities are investigating corruption allegations involving a Texas oil company and the local partner that helped it secure control of the Ghanaian oil block that yielded one of Africa’s biggest recent discoveries. The case risks complicating efforts by Texas company Kosmos to sell its stake in the Jubilee oil field to ExxonMobil in a deal valued at $4bn.

EUROPE: Europe’s Vast Farm Subsidies Face Challengesby STEPHEN CASTLE and DOREEN CARVAJAL, New York Times December 29th, 2009The last time the European Union decided the future of its 50 billion euro agricultural aid program, in 2005, the deal was cut behind closed doors in a luxury suite at the five-star Conrad Brussels hotel. Now, 2013 is closer at hand and a new round of maneuvering has begun to reshape the richest system of agricultural handouts in the world.

CHINA: Earth-Friendly Elements, Mined Destructivelyby Keith Bradsher, New York TimesDecember 26th, 2009Some of the greenest technologies of the age, from electric cars to efficient light bulbs to very large wind turbines, are made possible by an unusual group of elements called rare earths. Most of these come from China. “In many places, the mining is abused,” said Wang Caifeng, the top rare-earths industry regulator at the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology in China.

US: Ex-UBS Banker Seeks Billions for Blowing Whistleby Lynnley Browning, New York Times November 26th, 2009Bradley C. Birkenfeld was sentenced to 40 months in prison for helping rich Americans dodge their taxes, his sentence reduced in turn for informing on Swiss banking giant UBS. Now, with the help of the National Whistleblower Center, he and his lawyers hope to use a new federal whistle-blower law to claim a multibillion-dollar reward from the American government.

US/ECUADOR: New nonprofit uses Web to pressure Chevronby David A. Baker, San Francisco Chronicle November 16th, 2009Retired retail executive Richard Goldman was astonished when he heard about the $27 billion pollution lawsuit against Chevron Corp. in Ecuador. SO he has created a nonprofit group, Ethos Alliance, that will use social-networking tools to spread word of the case and put pressure on Chevron.